Who is Going to Win in Ipl? Ipl Team Analysis and New Two Teams

The 2011 World cup just ended and the cricket fans around the world have another thrilling tournament to follow. Especially for the Indian fans who are still recovering from the world cup champion madness, IPL 2011 is only expected to stretch their cricket insanity further. This year the competition is expected to be even more thrilling as the two new teams Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerala joins the race. These 10 teams will be in for a very tight competition but will be very entertaining to watch for the crowd. The T20 format is expected to reach new heights on this year’s IPL show. However, as entertaining as this might be, this is serious business and involves millions of dollars for team owners. That’s why the player auction for 2011 gave the hint of how intense this was about to get.

The auction 2011

Well the team owners started the auction with big money in their pocket and a very talented pool to pick from. Every single team had some pre desired selection from which some they managed to hold on and some that got away. From the very beginning there were players that were eyed by pretty much every team.

From the list, it is evident that every team is balanced and every team has the capabilities to clinch first spot. Some notable patterns in the auction were the big bucks spend on the Indian players. Players like Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan were among the eye brow raiser each bagging millions each. On the other hand, the teams took away big bargains like Shakib Al Hasan, JP Duminy, Kevin Pieterson, Daniel Vettori, Nathan McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Tim Paine, Michael Hussey and many more.

Key Players that were missed out:

Chris Gayle: A big hitter of the ball and a West Indian legend that was supposed to bag huge money for a team but ended up being ignored by every team for the high ticket price asked. His inclusion in any team could have given the team a brilliant opener as well as a good spinner.

Shourov Ganguly: A big name for Kolkata knight riders and a match winner in many games. This was a shocker Kolkata fans as their legend is no more in IPL. He was probably the best player for Knight Riders and his experience could have been a huge bonus for Kolkata or any other team.

Tamim Iqbal: Known as Tornado Tamim, the big hitter like him was expected to be picked early but went unnoticed by the teams. There was much disappointment by the media around the world by this ignorance and Tamim replied back by being one of the Wisden Cricket of the year.

The defending champions did not come out with a strong IPL auction. However, They managed to keep the Indian captain Dhoni along with Suresh Raina and Murali Vijay. They stacked their list of foreign players with big names like Hussey, Morkel and Bravo. They managed to bag Hussey for low but gave up close to a million on Badrinath and Ashwin. To their dissapoinment, they lost out the Sril Lankan legend Murali to Kochi. Overall, they have a decent attack with some good allrounders. Their weakness would be their bowling as it falls short on some big names. It will be interesting to see if they can keep their reputation alive this year.

The winner of 2009 but this year they have some hard work to do this year. Bought a total of 14 players including 9 foreigns, this team got some farely good deals on players like Kevin Pieterson, JP Duminy and the captain himself. However, it seems like they were panicking a bit as they went big for players like Dan Christian, Cameron White and Dale Steyn. They were disappointed to not have Yuvraj Singh for who they bid upto 1.6 Million! To add to their frustration, they lost Pieterson due to his injury. This was a big blow and that’s one of the reasons why their batting order lacks that extra talent. They are also thin in terms of their allround attack which is usually the key in T20 format. Having said that, if they work hard and the key playes take charge. Deccan has a chance to repeat their feat from 2009.

A big name in IPL but yet to make any mark yet. Equipped with the ferocious Shewag, this team still lacks a strong batting attack with no other big guns except him. Their bowling attack also has one spinner which can be suicidal for the Indian condition. One of their big buys were Irfan pathan whixh was unexpected as Pathan have fallen short in recent times in terms of performance. However, they recovered well getting Ingram cheap. They were disappointed to loose Zaheer Khan as well as Sreeshant and now they lack a good bowling attack as well. Seems like Delhi is the team that might struggle this year.

A team that has been struggling in past but looks like their bad time is over. This year, their attack looks strong and brings promises. With Gilchrist on the lead and Aussies David Hussey and Shaun Marsh to follow, Punjab has the Australian touch to its team. Yet, they have some quality Indian players like Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar and Dinesh Kartik. However, due to lack of big guns, they will not win the confidence of the crowd at the start but they can if the new faces make a solid mark.

A new team in IPL 2011 and boy! Did they go some extensive shopping! They have a very strong bowling, wicket keeping and All round attack but falls short on batting. However, the experienced Mahela Jayawardane might make up for it. If he doesn’t, than still their bowlers can bring it through. With bowlers like, Sreeshanth, RP Singh, Murali, Vinay and allrounders Hastings, Perara, Jadeja and McCullum, they show bright prospect. They made some good bargains as they went for a high 17 player auctioned player. Can they create an upset as rookies?

When someone looks at the team, without any doubt, they can declare them as champions. Why not as the team that has Sachin and Malinga at the same XI, what chance does other teams have against them? Yet they are yet to clinch a title even though they went close last year. This year, Mumbai Indians does not look any weaker but stronger. They have the powerful Pollard and Harbhajan to strengthen their attack farther. So this year not much was needed from the auction yet they took the Aussie allrounder Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma, Clint Mckay and Blizzard. This year, this team looks strongest once again. Will Mumbai chock once again? With the champion Tendulkar it is very unlikely but not impossible!

When one looks at this team, Pune Warriors does not look like one. With a big list of auctioned players looks like Pune Warriors is up for the title from day 1. They have a farely large number of big names like Yuvraaj Singh, Robin Uthapa, Smith, Mathews, Jesse Ryder, Nehra. Some of them like Smith came in good price which enabled them to go for it for Yuvraaj Singh the big fish. This team has it all but does it have the guts to go after the big teams this year?

The champs of 2008 are coming back this year with financial complications. As a result, they could not splash the cash for the big fishes except for Shane Watson. However, they kept the legend Shane Warne along with Rahul Dravid. With a low salary cap, they had to find some bargains and they certainly did with Ross Taylor, Collingwood and Tait. However, due to their low allowance, they had to fill up their roster with a bunch of domestic players and it will be interesting to see how they perform without any major T20 player.

This year Bangalors are back with some good players. They were moderate with their auction but it was equally frustrated to miss out on a bunch of key players. Having said that, they will be reasonably pleased to keep the youngster Virat Kohli. Leading with Virat Kohli, Bangalore has a strong batting attack with DIlshan, Kaif and Shaurav Tiwari and the talented AB de viliars. They also bring in a decent all round attack with Daniel Vettori who is leading the team along with Johan. Their bowling attack is looking rather strong too with Zaheer, Nanes and Langeveldt. However, despite of having Vettori, Bangalors lack all rounders which is a big letdown for T20 format. It will be challenging for them to be at the top table unless all their big guns perform at the same time.

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Captain: Gautam Gamvir,

owners: Shahrukh Khan

Juhi Chawla

Jai Mehta

Red Chillies Entertainment

(Current team strength: Strong)

Well after some disappointing seasons, Kolkata finally understood the significance of allrounders. Kolkata splashed their cashes early by taking Goutam Gambhir and Yousuf Pathan early. They also took a lot of key players like Kallis, Haddin, Shakib Al Hasan, Brett Lee. With all these players, Kolkata looks deadly. However, they do fall short in terms of bowling which is heavily dependent on Brett Lee. It seems like Kolkata will have to depend on its all-rounders for this year.

Media attention:

IPL is the easiest route to glamour for cricketers. Big money, fame, making friends with celebrities and high profile businesses, IPL are what players can possibly desire for. With the involvement of Bollywood stars like Shahrukh Khan, Preety Zinta and Shilpa Shetty, the media has been attracted to this sporting event for than anything!

Working with players around the world!

Well one of the purpose of IPL is to play with players around the world in a thrilling competition. While it gives players lots of experience, it also gives them the opportunity to get in touch with some coaches who were ex cricket stars. Ex-players like Fleming, Wasim Akram has much to offer to the young stars.

Amazing stats: IPL 2010 earned a total of 4.13 Billion dollar of profit!!

Results so far!

Well as expected, Kolkata with its all-round team have taken top table after playing 4 matches, winning 3. Thanks to Gambhir, Kallis, Shakib, Balaji and good effort by the youngsters, Kolkata is looking very confident out there. Pune Warriors and Mumbai Indians are next. The warriors, as a new team are performing very well! Jesse Ryder, Smith and Yuvraaj are among the ones contributing heavily but they are yet to have a great bowling figure collectively. For Mumbai Indians, nothing short of this is expected at this point as they possess the deadliest weapon Sachin Tendulkar who through his century making his mark quite well! Kochi, Chennai, Rajasthan and Punjab are performing decent with 2 wins each out of 4 and looks like there are lots to improve for all these teams. At this point, Delhi and Bangalore is struggling. The struggle for Bangalore is acceptable because of their financial complications resulting in a small set of signed players and more inexperienced lads. However, Delhi with Shewag is performing below expectations. They will have to pull it off if they want to be even in mid table.

Disadvantages of IPL 2011.

Although IPL has been a successful tournament, it’s not POSITIVE POSITIVE POSITIVE! IPL 2011 has prevented any international tours from taking place including cancelling the Bangladesh Vs Australia Test series. ICC should negotiate with IPL authorities and accommodate all other FTP tours before leaving a slot for IPL. Also, due to the high sum of salaries and all the glamour, players are discouraged from participating on the original cricket formats such as ODI and Test. Players these days rather play these short games and earn more money. The Australian Domestic and English county has faced decline in interest and number of followers due to IPL. This of course has negative effects as T20 does not produce genuine cricket players.

Controversies.

Due to safety reasons and national relationship issues, Pakistani players are banned from participating in IPL. Although, Pakistan cricket has a lot to offer regarding good T20 Players like Shahid Afridi, Abdur Razzaq, Shoib Akhter, Umar Gul and more. Inclusion of some of these players can really increase the intensity of the tournament.

On the ending note, IPL is set to be a very exciting competition as last few years. This tournament through the involvement of foreign players gives a chance for everyone to learn and at the same time earn respect, money and glamour. With new teams adding up, IPL is set to be one of the biggest sporting league of the world and could be better with some issues solved. Cricket fans, if you are not following IPL 2011, you are missing out all the fun!